I have gladly accepted, from the hands of that tram-way road-mender,
the Bay Laurel--_Laurus Nobilis_--for a symbol of all art, all poetry,
and all poetic and artistic vision and emotion. It has summed up,
better than words could do, what the old Herbals call the _virtues_,
of all beautiful things and beautiful thoughts. And it has suggested,
I hope, the contents of the following notes; the nature of my attempt
to trace the influence which art should have on life.